COMMUNITY spirit and thriving wildlife are set to be discarded in favour of a blot on the landscape, according to outraged residents in Poulton.

The residents have been backed by the business community in a plan to stop a four-acre site off Garstang Road from becoming a housing estate and shopping park.

A retail park would destroy Poulton's shopping centre and hundreds of new homes would ruin the countryside environment of the area, say the residents.

Marshall Haydock, of Little Poulton Lane, spoke for many of his neighbours when he said the thriving atmosphere of the market town of Poulton would be lost.

He said: "Poulton doesn't need a supermarket. It would seal the fate of the shops."

Neighbour Carol Woolley added: "The land's wildlife, especially in the ponds, would be wiped out. Poulton would just become another sprawling suburb of Blackpool."

Wyre borough councillors agreed at a meeting on Monday (March 4) to the developments in the draft proposal of the Local Plan.

The draft goes out to the public next month, giving local residents the chance to make any objections.

Elaine Cowap, secretary of the Association of Trade and Commerce, said: "The shops are our livelihood we and provide an important service."

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